The foothills of Sun Mountain could sprout 16 more homes under a plan proposed by a Santa Fe developer.

A meeting next week to give residents of the east-side area and others a chance to comment on the proposed Monte Sol subdivision could be a contentious one if an adjacent property owner and others ramp up their opposition.

Developer Doug McDowell, however, says his project will include innovative "green" features and should not be especially controversial.

The 23-acre site south of St. John's College belongs to the Watson Family Trust and is held under an option by McDowell. Family patriarch Jack Watson was a Santa Fe attorney who died a few years ago.

Since the city established its first modern zoning in the 1960s, the Watson parcel and much of the adjoining area has been designated R-1, which allows an average of one home per acre, said McDowell.

He proposes to keep the Watson's 1930s-era family home as a "community casa" that would belong to a future homeowners association and to build a dozen new homes of about 2,500 to 3,000 square feet, as well as four smaller homes that would be offered as part of the city's affordable-housing program.

Some who live in the area see the proposal as a threat to preserving the city's escarpments and high-ground viewsheds.

Take Jeff Lawrence, for example. Lawrence can't build more structures on his property adjacent to the proposed development because of city regulations intended to keep ridgelines unobstructed. But he says that from his home he would be looking up at five homes in the Monte Sol subdivision if they are built as McDowell proposes.

"My concern is just whether this is going to end up being a lot denser than the stuff around it and a lot higher up on the mountain and a lot more visible," he said.

Stephen Libscomb and his wife, Miranda Viscoli, are concerned with the effect the development would have on recreational use of the area. The couple bought a home early this year in the neighborhood where Viscoli played as a child.

"We were just moving back there and literally a month after we closed, we got notification that all the land that everyone assumed would never be built on, the hillside leading up the mountain, was going to be developed," he said. "And it is far beyond the scope of any of this kind of development in that area."

"What this is really about," said Viscoli, "is that we need a new subzoning here. These guys are taking advantage of the fact that the city needs to redefine where this mountain is."

McDowell disagrees with that characterization, noting he believes the homes he wants to build would be no higher into the foothills than those that already exist south of the property.

"The mountain itself, the rise in the mountain, there will be no development on," he said. "We are trying to maintain that corridor."

From his perspective, the project is a way to "reinvent himself," the developer said in an interview. McDowell Construction Co. for 37 years has built its business by constructing large custom homes for individual landowners and has done little subdivision development.

"We all know we are going through a huge change right now ... and the era of the big house is probably over to some degree," he said. "What we need to be doing now are green homes and sustainable homes, energy-efficient homes."

McDowell, who lives about a mile from the proposed project, plans to use General Electric's "economagination" program to choose fixtures and features for the homes that are intended make them perform better.

As proposed, the development would include about 7 acres of open space and would provide a trail easement dedicated to the city which would connect to a well-used trail that leads to the mountain summit.

After the required neighborhood meeting, the proposal must go before the city Planning Commission for approval.

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Early Neighborhood Notification meeting for proposed Monte Sol development off Old Santa Fe Trail.

When: 5:30 p.m., Wednesday

Where: Santa Fe Woman's Club, 1616 Old Pecos Trail

Who: Developer Doug McDowell and Jenkins Gavin Design and Development